


Royal Flowers

by Purplekeyboard



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Baking, Bodyguard, F/M, Fluff, Its gonna have smut later, It’s gonna be really fluffy, Jean has nice hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:40:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29668785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplekeyboard/pseuds/Purplekeyboard
Summary: You fill in for Niccolo in the royal kitchen and lots of chaos ensues. You catch the eye of the royal family and of a handsome bodyguard.
Relationships: Jean Kirstein/Reader, Sasha Blouse & Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse/Niccolo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Royal Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Key  
> ✧ = time skip 
> 
> hope you enjoy :)

The cold white marble echoed as you made your way down the castle halls. _I can’t believe I agreed to this,_ you think. One of your friends, Niccolo, worked as a chef for the royal family and in his absence you had agreed to help in the kitchen to cover for him. Once you got to the kitchen you took a second to marvel at the bustle of busy people hurrying to make food for the upcoming gala.

  
“Ah there you are.” An older woman approached you and immediately put a rolling pin in your hands. “I don’t have a lot of time so I’ll make this quick,” she said “Nicolo was going to bake the dessert for the royal family tonight so that’s what you’ll be doing right now.” You try to keep the nervous look off your face as she talks to you. “Quickly now, get to work.” She leads you over to the corner of the kitchen and leaves. _What am I supposed to do? Niccolo really owes me for this one._ You start to get out the flour and all basic baking ingredients.

  
“Alright time to get to work.” You say to yourself as you start to measure out the ingredients.

  
You had grown up outside the castle in a small town, and when you were old enough your family decided it would be best for you to get a job in the castle. You don’t remember a lot about your days in the small village, but a few memories stayed with you. Learning how to make angel food cake from your mother. Realizing this was the best course of action you started preparing.

✧Brushing your hands on your apron you looked at the cake. If you were being honest with yourself it was one of the best ones you had ever made. The firm golden brown exterior perfectly complemented the fluffy light insides of the cake. The final touch was some strawberries and a light dusting of powdered sugar. Feeling accomplished, you put it on the table with the other finished foods and started to clean up.

  
“What do you think you're doing?” The chef from before cried out “We need to get this out to the table right now” You looked at her confused.

  
“I finished baking it and it’s ready to go. Is there anything else I should be doing?”

  
“It’s custom in this castle that the chef in charge of a course brings out the food themselves,” she says to you disapprovingly, “you should know this. Now off you go!”

  
Your stomach drops as you realize what she said. You were going to have to present the cake yourself. Your heart starts to pound and you quickly make your way over to the polished window to straighten your hair out and make sure you look presentable. All you have time to do is brush off some flour from your cheeks before the chef pushes you out the door and has you accompany the waiter to the dining hall. It’s not far from the kitchen but you start to get more and more nervous with every step you take. The waiter you're walking with gives you a sympathetic smile.

  
“No need to be so nervous, they won’t bite.” He jokes. “My name’s Connie, thought I should introduce myself since we’ll be working together temporarily.”

  
“Thank you Connie.” you smile. He managed to put your nerves at bay. You introduce yourself, and before you can say anything else you are standing before a pair of large double doors. You take a deep breath and push the doors open. Connie places the cake on the table and takes a step back to stand by the doors. He gives you a smile and you feel a little better. Stepping forward you present your cake to the royal family.

  
You have never actually met any of them in your years of working at the castle. Your usual job is working as a gardener for the queen’s flower garden. The job was perfect for you, you got to enjoy the beauty and perks of living in the castle without having to deal with rich snobby royals, and on top of that you were surrounded by beautiful flowers all day. Queen Carla Yeager was known for having flowers incorporated in her looks and even influenced King Grisha Yeager to trade out the old custom of having metal crowns for woven flower crowns. The next in line for the throne was Prince Zeke, and after him was the younger Prince Eren. You had never actually met any of them before, but now you had four pairs of eyes looking at you expectantly. You quickly say what you had rehearsed in your head about the cake, trying to keep it as brief as possible.  
“It looks lovely.” The queen says to you with a warm smile.

  
“Thank you your majesty.” You reply and give a short curtsy. Before anyone could say anything else you retreat back to where Connie is standing, and leave the room. Unbeknownst to you, the king and queen keep their eyes on you as you walk away with worry written all over their faces.

✧It had been a only a few days since you had filled in for Nicolo in the kitchen and you were back to working in the flower garden. Niccolo had gotten some harsh words from you for not entailing what was expected of the job, but he had promised to make it up to you. He kept to his promise and had sent his girlfriend, Sasha, over to the greenhouse with some rare flower seeds. You had been so excited that you had hugged her on the spot, and realizing that you barely knew each other, you had pulled away a little embarrassed. She had laughed, ruffled up your hair, and invited you to come play some card games with her and Connie later that week.

  
 _It seems I’ve been making many new friends recently,_ you quietly laugh to yourself.

  
“Are you alright?” A voice asks. You jump a little at the voice and curse yourself for seeming so flustered. You look up to meet a pair of green eyes. Your eyes widen as you find yourself making eye contact with Prince Eren. You hastily drop into a curtsy.

  
“Your Royal Highness, how can I help you?”

  
“There’s no need for the title.” He replies curtly.

  
“As you wish”

  
“I came by on my mother’s behalf to thank you for the cake as well as request a few extra flowers for her dress tonight.”

  
You couldn’t help but think about why the queen didn’t just send a servant, but the thought slipped your mind when you felt his eyes on you, waiting for a response.

  
“Of course,” you say with a polite nod. “What kinds of flowers was she thinking?” You could swear you saw him think for a moment before he responded.

  
“Roses. She wanted roses.”

  
“Alright, it’ll take just a second.” You’re hyper aware of everything as you scramble to get the prettiest flowers you currently have. You can see his tall bodyguard standing outside the door, and you roll your eyes. _It’s not like I’m even capable of hurting the prince._

  
Once he leaves you let out a deep breath and slide against the wall to take a seat on the floor. Rubbing your face you think about the words your mother said to you when you left for the castle. _Under no circumstances can you draw attention to yourself, especially not from anyone in the royal family._

✧The end of week finally rolled around and you decided that you would take up on Sasha’s offer and go hangout with her and Connie. You lived in a cottage on the garden part of the castle grounds. It had beautiful pastel curtains and vines wrapping around the outside, it looked like something straight out of a fairytale. The staff quarters were located in the castle so you had to walk over.

  
After walking for a little while you are standing at the entrance for the staff residence. You jump a little when you hear your name being called loudly. Sasha threw the door open and ushered you in.

  
The servants quarters for the castle staff were bigger than you thought they would be. They essentially had a whole wing with a common room in the middle. The whole place felt very welcoming and homey. A group of people were sitting around the table playing cards and drinking. You eyed the stack of money on the middle of the table that seemed to be getting pretty big. Connie and Niccolo rise and come to greet you.

  
“Hey there” Niccolo says a little hesitantly.

  
“It’s alright Niccolo you already made it up to me.” You smile, but make a point to pinch his cheek a little too hard. “Connie! It’s good to see you!”

  
“Hiii, you look less nervous today.” He laughs. They sit back down and Sasha leads you to an empty space by the table near her. You decide to just watch for the first round and it’s quite amusing to see how Sasha and Connie have a little secret language between the two of them to do better against the other players. The round comes to a close, and you think you have the hang of how the game works.

  
“I’ll deal you in, darlin’.” You look up to see the source of the voice is sitting right across from you. He has a cigarette in one hand and the deck of cards in the other. “Jean Kirstein.” He says putting down the deck and extending his hand. The rest of the players are bickering and talking and you realize you're having a somewhat private conversation. You take his hand and tell him your name. He gives you a lopsided grin and moves to sit next to you.

  
“You understand the game?” He says bumping his shoulder with yours. You can feel some heat rising to your face and you shuffle to put a few inches between the two you.

“Yup, I think I got it.” Noticing your discomfort he moves away and creates more space. Aware of this you bite your lip to stop from smiling. He starts to deal the cards and then he keeps talking.

“I saw you at the greenhouse earlier this week.”

“You did?” You tilt your head.

“Oh my bad,” he laughs “I’m the prince’s bodyguard, I came with him to pick some flowers up.”

“That was a disaster, I wasn’t ready for him and I was laughing out loud for what looked like no reason and I-” you stopped yourself from saying anything else. You could start to feel the effects of the drink Sasha gave you. He chuckled and you realized you didn’t hate the way his laugh sounded.

  
“Alright everyone let's start!” You heard Connie say and you had to pull your eyes off of Jean. The game started and you were doing pretty well but you kept getting distracted by Jean’s large hands skillfully handling the cards. Your eyes traveled up to his face where the cigarette hung loosely from his lips. _Get a grip,_ you think to yourself. You failed to notice the way he looked at you too after you turned away.

  
Hours later the night came to a close with you breaking even and Sasha and Connie scamming almost everyone out of their money. Jean had also done very well, winning everything that Sasha and Connie hadn’t. You said your goodbyes to your friends and started to leave when you heard Jean calling your name.

  
“Hey let me walk you back.” He said.

  
“It’s not that far I’ll be ok.” You responded trying to push down the urge to crack a smile.

  
“I want to.” He grinned at you. All you could do was nod and he stretched out his arm for you to take. On the way back you found yourself talking to him about what happened when you filled in for Niccolo, and he laughed and told you how Niccolo tried to get him to fill in as well. You told him about where you grew up and how you missed your family. He told you about his childhood and how he had grown up in the castle with the others. It was so easy to talk to him, and both of you had slowed a leisurely pace to draw out the amount of time you had together.

  
When you finally reach the flower garden you look over at him.

  
“This is it.” You say quietly, not wanting your time together to be over. You drop your hand from the crook of his arm and turn to face him. “Thanks for walking me back.”

  
“Of course.” He grins. You take one last look at him before you step inside your house. From out the window you can see him wait to see you safely inside and then leave. You fall onto your stomach on your bed and silently scream into your pillow and kick your legs. _I can’t believe that just happened. This can’t be happening. I can’t fall._

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii so this chapter is mostly setting up some plot for the future.  
> This was just an idea of mine so if anyone ends up reading this tell me if i should continue haha.  
> Also constructive criticism is encouraged please don’t hold back :)


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